5/2
School of Social Policy & Practice
Class of 2019 President’s Engagement and Innovation Prize winners announced at Penn
The President’s Engagement Prize and President’s Innovation Prize empower Penn students to design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world.
The future of Annenberg, with John L. Jackson Jr. at the helm
Under his leadership, the school is poised to further engage in the pressing cultural, political, and ideological conversations happening in today’s unprecedented media landscape.
Can closing homeless encampments help Philadelphia’s opioid problem?
According to a new report, the city’s recent effort opened up treatment spots for people with opioid addiction and offered permanent and temporary housing options.
Negotiating a truce in the war on drugs
A Penn Law symposium brought together experts from the legal, law enforcement, social work, and policy camps to discuss how to refocus the decades-long fight to be less punitive and more protective.
Report predicts aging homeless population will nearly triple by 2030
The national population of people 65 or older experiencing homelessness is estimated to grow from 40,000 to 106,000 by 2030.
Can music improve anxiety and depression for people with memory disorders?
That’s the aim of a recently completed pilot program connecting Penn Memory Center patients, Penn graduate students, and Curtis Institute musicians.
The economic impact of India’s self-help group movement
Doctoral candidate Allison Russell of the School of Social Policy & Practice works with professor Femida Handy to examine how the self-help group movement leads to job creation in India.
Veteran homelessness down 5 percent, to continue declining each year
The U.S. departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veteran Affairs announced that veteran homelessness has decreased 5.4 percent in 2018—bringing the total down to nearly half the number of homeless veterans that were reported in 2010.
Staging the plague
Eighty-one students training in a diversity of health professions worked with regional and federal agencies to confront an imagined outbreak scenario centered around bubonic plague in Philadelphia.
As market concentration goes up, employees’ wages go down
Labor economist Ioana Marinescu discusses her research, which she presented to the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, Oct. 16.
In the News
There is one major element missing from the debate on kids and social media
In an opinion essay, PIK Professor Desmond Upton Patton says that gun violence needs to be part of the conversation about how smartphones and social media impact young people.
FULL STORY →
We don’t see what climate change is doing to us
In an Op-Ed, R. Jisung Park of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that public discourse around climate change overlooks the buildup of slow, subtle costs and their impact on human systems.
FULL STORY →
Places across the U.S. are testing no-strings cash as part of the social safety net
Stacia West of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the School of Social Policy & Practice says that guaranteed income payments improve people’s psychological wellbeing by reducing their distress. Amy Castro, also of the Center, points out that such programs are expensive, so important questions need to be asked.
FULL STORY →
New book examines sectarianism and the housing crisis in Northern Ireland
In her book “In Power, Politics and Territory in the New Northern Ireland,” Elizabeth DeYoung of the School of Social Policy & Practice says that sectarianism has contributed to the housing crisis in Northern Ireland and continues to influence decision-making on the needs for homes.
FULL STORY →
California says its new gun law is about public safety. But what about these women?
Susan B. Sorenson of the School of Social Policy & Practice says there is no evidence that carrying a gun makes women who have been abused safer.
FULL STORY →